Sunday, April 26, 2009

Daring Bakers' Cheesecake

Abbey's Infamous CheesecakeApril's Daring Bakers' Challenge Recipe

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.

Time to get creative!The real challenge in this month's was to take the basic recipe and play with it. Make it UNIQUE. Make a show-stopper of a dessert. Add flavour, sauces, decorations – dress it up and show it off and make it our own.

WOW POW WHANG what a response Jenny got from the Daring Bakers nearly every flavour combination under the sun and every topping beautifully presented. The Daring Baker's really went to town using Abbey's very easy and very forgiving recipe. I just love the thin batter which combines with any flavour base and the cheesecake is light and fluffy unlike the usual dense cheesecake that inhibites some cafés and restaurants. The cheesecake is soft with shiny crisp crust and not too sweet. They are better at room temp.

Ode to the cheesecakeCheesecake, that's one I can't make.Makes me salivate.Makes me grovel, mate.Don't hesitate - give me the cheesecake!I will celebrate and I will dedicate.My last bite of cheesecake.To my taste buds, which I will placate.With your fine cheesecake.by J. G. Fort Knox, KY

It seems that the batter is too thin but it sets beautifully. I did a whole selection of flavours since I had high-tea (silver service) to do and I gave the guests their choice of flavourings (it had to be three flavours) and I got some great combinations. My choice was carrot, honey and coconut. I would of keep the recipe very simple if it was for myself but it is nice to have special treats for friends at a party it adds to the excitement. I did muffin sized cheesecakes and they took 30 minutes to set in the oven and one hour of cooling. The colours are all natural I used purées or shavings of the flavourings. I did 2/3 of the recipe this made 12 muffins.

Here are the flavours I did for the high tea there where six tasters and the following is in order of preference we judged out of ten and I averaged them

When you are doing cheesecakes think of there being three layers - the crust, the filling and the top - each can be used to flavour the final result. For example the savoury "crab, walnut and Stilton" cheesecake I used a walnut crust, crab and cream cheese filling and a Stilon cheese topping.

Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake:crust:2 cups / 180 g Graham cracker crumbs1 stick / 4 oz butter, melted2 tbsp. / 24 g sugar1 tsp. vanilla extractcheesecake:3 sticks of cream cheese, 8 oz each (total of 24 oz) room temperature1 cup / 210 sugar (for savoury 1/4 cup sugar)3 large eggs1 cup / 8 oz heavy cream1 tbsp. lemon juice1 tbsp. vanilla extract (or the innards of a vanilla bean)1 tbsp liqueur, optional, but choose what will work well with your cheesecakeDIRECTIONS:1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (Gas Mark 4 = 180C = Moderate heat). Begin to boil a large pot of water for the water bath.2. Mix together the crust ingredients and press into your preferred pan. You can press the crust just into the bottom, or up the sides of the pan too - baker's choice. Set crust aside.3. Combine cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of a stand-mixer (or in a large bowl if using a hand-mixer) and cream together until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next. Make sure to scrape down the bowl in between each egg. Add heavy cream, vanilla, lemon juice, and alcohol and blend until smooth and creamy.4. Pour batter into prepared crust and tap the pan on the counter a few times to bring all air bubbles to the surface. Place pan into a larger pan and pour boiling water into the larger pan until halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan. If cheesecake pan is not airtight, cover bottom securely with foil before adding water.5. Bake 45 to 55 minutes, until it is almost done - this can be hard to judge, but you're looking for the cake to hold together, but still have a lot of jiggle to it in the center. You don't want it to be completely firm at this stage. Close the oven door, turn the heat off, and let rest in the cooling oven for one hour. This lets the cake finish cooking and cool down gently enough so that it won't crack on the top. After one hour, remove cheesecake from oven and lift carefully out of water bath. Let it finish cooling on the counter, and then cover and put in the fridge to chill. Once fully chilled, it is ready to serve.Pan note: The creator of this recipe used to use a springform pan, but no matter how well she wrapped the thing in tin foil, water would always seep in and make the crust soggy. Now she uses one of those 1-use foil "casserole" shaped pans from the grocery store. They're 8 or 9 inches wide and really deep, and best of all, water-tight. When it comes time to serve, just cut the foil away.Prep notes: While the actual making of this cheesecake is a minimal time commitment, it does need to bake for almost an hour, cool in the oven for an hour, and chill overnight before it is served. Please plan accordingly!**Cheesecakelets - put in muffin tins, ramekins, or custard cups. Try baking 20-35 minutes, or until still a little jiggly, and cool as before.

Look at all the combinations just from you alone. You were very busy indeed. Beautiful job. Now can you please pass a sample of each one so I can have a taste. I am particularly interested int eh the garlic and lemon grass one.

Fabulous job Audax! I love that you gave your audience a choice of flavours and you came up with some great combinations. Sour cherry sounds great, as does the cafe latte version (if only because it's similar to the cheesecake combination I did). Love to know how to score an invitation to your high teas - they sound like great fun!

So many flavours!! I'm totally impressed!! Since this was my first cheesecake I kept it simple, but your post is inspiring me to try out all sorts of other flavours! I baked mine in a regular tin, but I will definitely go for the smaller forms next time to give myself more room for experimenting. It looks lovely!

Hi, thanks for stopping by to comment on the mango cheesecake, and I also used another recipe you gave out for the current cook's challenge, which worked out great. I like the idea of these mini cheesecakes. So cute!

Thank you very much for visiting my blog! I love all of your cheesecakes. I remember thinking to myself how nice it would be to eat all of your cakes when I saw all of those flavors (sweet and savory). It was a very satisfying and edifying journey looking through your recipes for this month's challenge. Thanks for sharing!

PS: Excuse my tardiness in replying because we were on the road for the past two days and we just got to a hotel an hour ago.

wowwwwwwww, you went all out on this challenge!! This is probably the only blog i've visited with SAVORY cheesecakes.......HOW HARDCORE is that!? wonderful job... you got me curious.. i wonder how each flavor tastes like! most probably, fantabulous.

Audax,I am positively blown away by the creativity you displayed in this challenge! All the flavor combinations, both sweet and savory? Incredible! And the pictures are lovely too - all the colors... brilliant.

This is the Abbey behind the recipe, by the way, and I just wanted to thank you for your kind words and encouragement. I'm so excited to be joining Daring Bakers, and can't wait to see more of your creations. -Abbey

Only Audax could made this delicious selection of flavors and colors, Fabulous job.In my town the cream creese desapeared I went to all the supermarkets and the chinese and Italian stores and nothing...:(